Govt suspends issuance of licences for mineral exporters

The government has suspended the issuance of licenses of mineral exports for mining companies that owe district councils royalty.

“The Prime Minister's Office, Regional Administration and Local Government and the Ministry of Energy and Minerals have suspended minerals export licenses to firms that were yet to clear their debts in the respective councils," said PMO-RALG permanent secretary Hussein Katanga recently.

He was briefing regional administrative secretaries, directors and internal auditors who met here to discuss the Controller and Auditor General's report for 2010/2011 for the purpose of taking appropriate remedial measures.

Katanga cited the example of Geita District Council which is owed by mining companies close to USD 1.2 billion.

He challenged participants to ensure that they submit names of staff, who qualify to head departments, as many district councils have been sending only three names, including of those who were not fit for top positions in councils.

Meanwhile, Katanga said from now on PMO-RALG would be using regional engineers to monitor road constructions and in return they would be answerable for quality of roads.

For her part, PMO-RALG State Minister Hawa Ghasia called on the participants to ensure that they implement programmes and plans that have been designed as shown on business plans.

She stressed that tough measures would be taken against those found guilty of embezzlement of public funds.

Dodoma regional commissioner Dr Rehema Nchimbi called on participants to cooperate with their fellow officials in their respective work stations in order to improve efficiency.

“People are suffering because we are not playing our roles as we should have been. When you're a bad player, you end up hurting the entire team, therefore cooperation is very important,” she said.